Just a warning: this may possibly be the longest blogger post in history!
Monday, Dec. 22 we headed to the airport to fly to my parents home in Nebraksa for the holiday! I have been so excited to go but the week prior to leaving was when we were all struck with the sickies so didn't get to pack until the night before... anyway, we get there and of course we are the first ones on the plane for pre-boarding. Now, I had gone to the dollar store and made little kits for each of the kids to help entertain the on the flight (and of course they were all well equiped with FOOD!) anyway, we had the very last row on the plane all the way across and truthfully, it wasn't all that bad - yes, both girls cried and refused to go to sleep and Nathan kept kicking the seat in front of us and a bottle leaked out of the bag onto a passenger but nothing we couldn't handle. Basically John and I both walked with the girls around the back trying to stay out of everyone's way.... then we get to Minneapolis and switch planes.. everything goes well and as soon as we get to the gate they are boarding.. sadly, no pre-boarding for this flight so it was more of a struggle to get all situated but we do and then... we sit on the runway for 45 min! not fun but oh well... same as the first flight but kept the girls quiet with lollipops, graham crackers and strawberry puffs (yes, and prior to this... they had only ever eaten baby food! - but whatever worked!) Also, during this flight 3 stewardess' came back and said "we heard there was a family of 8 on board and we just had to come look at it!" yeah, I'm sure we were quite the sight! But it didn't matter... just 6 hours after leaving Boise we landed in Omaha where my parents met us! It was the first time grandpa got to meet the little girls and it was so fun introducing them to him!
My parent's house is about 3 hours from Omaha so we decided to drive the 1 hour to Lincoln where my brother and his family live (actually all of my sibling live in Lincoln) and we stayed the night with them. Tuesday was the BSU Bowl game and so we had to get on the road so john could be all set up for the game - and of course everyone had to sport their BSU gear... On the way we stopped at another brothers house and visited for a bit. So we get to their house around 4pm and John gets all situated for the game... Meanwhile, I had all of our Christmas gifts sent to their house (did 99% of our shopping online and just had them shipped directly there...) so I had an insane amount of wrapping to do! But it all got done...
Wedensday was Christmas Eve... My oldest brother and his family came in that morning and we spent most of the day cooking the big Christmas dinner. My mom, SIL and I did run out during the late morning and picked up a few last minute Christas gifts which was fun! Then we had the big Turkey/Ham dinner and the most amazing rolls that my SIL makes from scratch! wowzers!
That evening we had a FHE where we read about the birth of Christ from the scriptures and then followed by a talent show. To close down the FHE my mom had all the grandkids gather around and told the story and meaning of christmas...
Then Grandma gave each of the grandkids a gift to open (new pj's!!) so here they are sporting their new duds (Nathan and the girls were already down for the night...)
After all the kids were in bed, we finished up the wrapping and setting up... We were actually all in bed at a decent time with instructions that we woudn't be getting up any earlier than 6am... All the grandkids slept down in the basement and then in the morning we all got up together... Here's just a modpodge of pics from the morning...
After all of gifts were opened, we had a big Christmas bruch with pancakes, waffles, cheesy eggs, etc... around 1pm the rest of the families all showed up so we had a full house! It was soooo fun! we opened up each others gifts and just had a really fun time together. Sadly my oldest bro and family had to leave that evening (they were heading out to TX to visit her side of the family....) but before they left, we herded everyone into the living room for an attempt at a family photo! Most of us hadn't even combed our hair for the day and several of the kids were still in their pj's! I don't know why we didn't take 5 min. to change and at least comb/wash faces! oh, well.. I think we were trying to get one before they left that we didn't really care how we looked! Several hours later of editing and many head swaps, removing the background, editing all graphics off of Tshirts, changing colors of clothing, etc, etc... (oh, and Nathan was asleep during it so I had to add him in later as well...) anyway, this is the final result... and for what we had to work with we're all excited about it! LOL...
I'm not sure if I like it in color or BW better to print up... what do you think?
ok.. moving right along - Here's a picture of the girls with their Great Grandma (who is also a twin) and is just so thrilled that I have twin girls! These are the cute little outfits that she gave them for Christmas...
During the second week we were there, my mom made cookies with the boys - they were in heaven! this is something that I should really do more with them... she went all out and brought out all of the cookie cutters, icing, and toppings! and yes, they were little piglets and had eaten them all within 24 hours!
We were able to attend church with them while we were there and here are the little dresses that my mom bought special for girls - and of course they had to sport their hats made by Janiece and bracelets by Jenny!
She also got them these beautiful green dresses and so we had to dress them up in those as well for some pics... LOL 
On December 28, we celebrated our 14 year anniversary! My little brother and his wife have the same anniversary (they celebrated their 6th) and so we went out to breakfast together while grandma babysat all of the kids :) The next day we did some more celebrating and went out to dinner with my parents and then they went home to be with the kids and John and I went out shopping and then to see Twilight (again!)....
and here are some inside by the Christmas tree.. I really wanted to get some really pretty shots of the glowing tree with my boys in it but they'd have to stay still for like 5 seconds for the correct shutter speed that I knew it wouldn't turn out.. so I took theirs....
Now we're up to New Years Day.... which also happens to be August's 12th birthday! He was born just 13 min. before the new year back in 1996.... I can't believe my little guy is 12 and now in YM's and will be getting the priesthood! We had one of his favorite dinners which is Chicken and Dumplings and had cake and ice cream...
then we let the 3 older boys stay up to ring in the new year.... we ate LOTS AND LOTS (and then some more!) but it was fun! Here we all are in the first picture of 2009!
Grandma Vogt got the little girls these cute outfits with the funnest hats!! I love them! so couldn't resist putting in a pic of them dressed up with thier first little baby dolls that my mom gave them (in fact, they're little twin dolls :)
We were scheduled to fly out on Sat (Jan 3) but bad weather came in with ice and snow and many flights were majorly delayed if not cancelled all together! Of course ours was one that was affected and so they couldn't get us out until Sun. night.... so we all got together in Lincoln for one last hoorah! My sisters husband is very musical and has LOTS of musical instruments so all of the guys went down for a little jam session! They actually turned out to be fairly good and put on a concert for everyone!
Monday, Dec. 22 we headed to the airport to fly to my parents home in Nebraksa for the holiday! I have been so excited to go but the week prior to leaving was when we were all struck with the sickies so didn't get to pack until the night before... anyway, we get there and of course we are the first ones on the plane for pre-boarding. Now, I had gone to the dollar store and made little kits for each of the kids to help entertain the on the flight (and of course they were all well equiped with FOOD!) anyway, we had the very last row on the plane all the way across and truthfully, it wasn't all that bad - yes, both girls cried and refused to go to sleep and Nathan kept kicking the seat in front of us and a bottle leaked out of the bag onto a passenger but nothing we couldn't handle. Basically John and I both walked with the girls around the back trying to stay out of everyone's way.... then we get to Minneapolis and switch planes.. everything goes well and as soon as we get to the gate they are boarding.. sadly, no pre-boarding for this flight so it was more of a struggle to get all situated but we do and then... we sit on the runway for 45 min! not fun but oh well... same as the first flight but kept the girls quiet with lollipops, graham crackers and strawberry puffs (yes, and prior to this... they had only ever eaten baby food! - but whatever worked!) Also, during this flight 3 stewardess' came back and said "we heard there was a family of 8 on board and we just had to come look at it!" yeah, I'm sure we were quite the sight! But it didn't matter... just 6 hours after leaving Boise we landed in Omaha where my parents met us! It was the first time grandpa got to meet the little girls and it was so fun introducing them to him!My parent's house is about 3 hours from Omaha so we decided to drive the 1 hour to Lincoln where my brother and his family live (actually all of my sibling live in Lincoln) and we stayed the night with them. Tuesday was the BSU Bowl game and so we had to get on the road so john could be all set up for the game - and of course everyone had to sport their BSU gear... On the way we stopped at another brothers house and visited for a bit. So we get to their house around 4pm and John gets all situated for the game... Meanwhile, I had all of our Christmas gifts sent to their house (did 99% of our shopping online and just had them shipped directly there...) so I had an insane amount of wrapping to do! But it all got done...
Wedensday was Christmas Eve... My oldest brother and his family came in that morning and we spent most of the day cooking the big Christmas dinner. My mom, SIL and I did run out during the late morning and picked up a few last minute Christas gifts which was fun! Then we had the big Turkey/Ham dinner and the most amazing rolls that my SIL makes from scratch! wowzers!
That evening we had a FHE where we read about the birth of Christ from the scriptures and then followed by a talent show. To close down the FHE my mom had all the grandkids gather around and told the story and meaning of christmas...
Then Grandma gave each of the grandkids a gift to open (new pj's!!) so here they are sporting their new duds (Nathan and the girls were already down for the night...)
After all the kids were in bed, we finished up the wrapping and setting up... We were actually all in bed at a decent time with instructions that we woudn't be getting up any earlier than 6am... All the grandkids slept down in the basement and then in the morning we all got up together... Here's just a modpodge of pics from the morning...
After all of gifts were opened, we had a big Christmas bruch with pancakes, waffles, cheesy eggs, etc... around 1pm the rest of the families all showed up so we had a full house! It was soooo fun! we opened up each others gifts and just had a really fun time together. Sadly my oldest bro and family had to leave that evening (they were heading out to TX to visit her side of the family....) but before they left, we herded everyone into the living room for an attempt at a family photo! Most of us hadn't even combed our hair for the day and several of the kids were still in their pj's! I don't know why we didn't take 5 min. to change and at least comb/wash faces! oh, well.. I think we were trying to get one before they left that we didn't really care how we looked! Several hours later of editing and many head swaps, removing the background, editing all graphics off of Tshirts, changing colors of clothing, etc, etc... (oh, and Nathan was asleep during it so I had to add him in later as well...) anyway, this is the final result... and for what we had to work with we're all excited about it! LOL...
I'm not sure if I like it in color or BW better to print up... what do you think?
ok.. moving right along - Here's a picture of the girls with their Great Grandma (who is also a twin) and is just so thrilled that I have twin girls! These are the cute little outfits that she gave them for Christmas...
During the second week we were there, my mom made cookies with the boys - they were in heaven! this is something that I should really do more with them... she went all out and brought out all of the cookie cutters, icing, and toppings! and yes, they were little piglets and had eaten them all within 24 hours!
We were able to attend church with them while we were there and here are the little dresses that my mom bought special for girls - and of course they had to sport their hats made by Janiece and bracelets by Jenny!
She also got them these beautiful green dresses and so we had to dress them up in those as well for some pics... LOL On December 28, we celebrated our 14 year anniversary! My little brother and his wife have the same anniversary (they celebrated their 6th) and so we went out to breakfast together while grandma babysat all of the kids :) The next day we did some more celebrating and went out to dinner with my parents and then they went home to be with the kids and John and I went out shopping and then to see Twilight (again!)....My little sister and her husband wanted me to take some pics of them while we were together so we ventured out one afternoon... surprisingly it was like 50 degrees! Here's a few that I took...
and here are some inside by the Christmas tree.. I really wanted to get some really pretty shots of the glowing tree with my boys in it but they'd have to stay still for like 5 seconds for the correct shutter speed that I knew it wouldn't turn out.. so I took theirs....Now we're up to New Years Day.... which also happens to be August's 12th birthday! He was born just 13 min. before the new year back in 1996.... I can't believe my little guy is 12 and now in YM's and will be getting the priesthood! We had one of his favorite dinners which is Chicken and Dumplings and had cake and ice cream...
then we let the 3 older boys stay up to ring in the new year.... we ate LOTS AND LOTS (and then some more!) but it was fun! Here we all are in the first picture of 2009!
Grandma Vogt got the little girls these cute outfits with the funnest hats!! I love them! so couldn't resist putting in a pic of them dressed up with thier first little baby dolls that my mom gave them (in fact, they're little twin dolls :)
We were scheduled to fly out on Sat (Jan 3) but bad weather came in with ice and snow and many flights were majorly delayed if not cancelled all together! Of course ours was one that was affected and so they couldn't get us out until Sun. night.... so we all got together in Lincoln for one last hoorah! My sisters husband is very musical and has LOTS of musical instruments so all of the guys went down for a little jam session! They actually turned out to be fairly good and put on a concert for everyone!
My oldest brother is on the drums, BIL on the guitar, younger brother singing and then my hot Johnny on the bass!!
and here are the 2 songs that they peformed to us... the first is a Weezer song (my personal favorite of the 2) and the second is Zombie by the Cranberries.... the best part is that this is the first time my brother has ever played the drums!
so then we get on the plane Sunday evening at 7pm and since we were rescheduled, our seats were literally ALL over the plane with everyone sitting by themself.. yeah, that wasn't going to work... so they got us all sitting together and that flight goes fairly smooth.... then the next flight they couldn't get us all together so we were seperated :( Again, we sit on the runway for an hour!!! by this time it's 10:30pm and the 3 little ones have had it... so we finally take off and Aubrie (the one I have) starts screaming LOUDLY for like 20 min (where people behind me were yelling "Shhhhh!"... oh well... finally she falls asleep but Nathan (who was also by me) doesn't fall asleep until midnight! anyway, we finally land and get home about 4 hours before the boys are to wake up to get to school - so we let the sleep in a bit and John took them on his way to work....
So that was our trip in a nutshell... yes, the traveling wasn't the funnest but TOTALLY worth it (in my mind... John might have a different answer for you! LOL)
oh, also while we were there my little Lexi hit some other milestones... she learned out to crawl up the stairs (so she could escape form the sunken living room we had them *contained* in) and she started pulling herself up onto things to a standing position (and even was standing in her little crib when we went in to get her up after a nap!) I'm afraid she's going to be walking and little Aubrie still won't be crawling! LOL
so here we are... back and home and loving the comforts of being in our own house!
8 comments:
Wow that was quite the post! I guess you made up for the WHOLE time you were gone. I really enjoyed the pictures, your little girls look like dolls all dressed up in their different dresses. I am glad you had such a great time. I can't decide which picture is better either, but I am leaning towards the black and white.
love it all shandy.
what a crazy time you must have had.
so great.
I'm so glad you guys had such a marvelous time!!!! We almost stopped by the other day but you wouldn't have been there so I guess it's good we didn't - we'll come by soon though!
There's nothing like family around the holidays!! Sound like you had a wonderful time!
Great trip! I love the pics too and how amazing you are for adding people who weren't in the picture and swapping heads and what not. My vote is for the black and white. Your trip sounds so fun being with family, even though the travel part stunk, everything else sounded great!
Wow, what an adventure! I can't even imagine traveling like that. I struggle with just two on an hour flight! I definitely empathize with you and know all about food bribery;o)! I'm glad you had such a great time. Thanks for sharing your holiday memories with us.
What a wield and fun time . Plane rides are never fun. Glad you guys made it home safe and sound , and that you had a fun filled Christmas and New Years.
It's sounds you had a great time. I really love the girls in all of those cute outfits!! I can't believe August is 12, wow!! Exciting times are ahead for you. Hang on mom!! What a fun post! We are all sure glad you are home though, we miss the Vogts!
P.S. I like the black and white photo best.
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